maxwell



BATBNTED JAN. 5, 1904'.

A 1). MAXWELL. AUTOMATIC GUARD 0R LIFE SAVER FOR TEAM CARS 03 THE LIKE.

, APPLICATION FILED AUG. 15, 1902.

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No. 748,628. 7 PATENTED JAN. 5, 1904. D. MAXWELL. AUTOMATIC GUARD 0R LIFE SAVER FOR TEAM CARS OR THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 15,1902.

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UNITED STATES I Patented January 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

AUTOMATIC GUARD OR LIFE-SAVER FOR TRAM-CARS OR THE LIKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 748,628, dated January 5, 1904.

Application filed August 15 1902. Serial No. 119,816. (No model) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID-MAXWELL, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of Dundee, in the county of Fox-far, Scotland, (whose post-office address is 17 Kings road,) have invented an Improvement in Automatic Guards or Life-Savers for Tram-Oars or the Like, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to an improvement in automatic guards or life-savers for tramcars and the like, the object being to provide means for saving lives or preventing accidents in cases where pedestrians are overtaken by cars.

In order that my said invention and the manner of performing or carrying the same into effect or practice may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended two explanatory sheets of drawings, in which the same reference-numerals are used to indicate corresponding parts in all the figures Where shown-that is to say,

Figure 1 is a plan in which the full lines show the guard in its normal position ready for use and the dotted lines its position aft-er it has been in operation. Fig. 2 is a face View of the guard supporting and releasing gear and looking in the direction of the arrow A, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the guard. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the guard looking in the direction of the arrow A, Fig. 1. Fig. 5is a front elevation of the feeler looking in the direction of the arrow A, Fig. 1. V

In carrying out my invention the guard or life-saver proper consists of a diagonallyplaced board 6, which when in its normal position is clear of the roadway 7, being held there by a lever-catch 8, which engages with the supporting-bar 9, carried, preferably, by the underframe 10 of the vehicle. The diagonal board, which is carried by the supportingbar 9, is loosely pivoted at a point near one side of the vehicle and immediately in front of the wheels, which are not shown, the axis of such pivot 11 being vertical when the life-saver 6 is released, but slightly inclined when such life-saver is in contact with the roadway. The bottom edge of the diagonal board is angled and to it is fixed a broad piece of india-rubber or composition belting 12 or other suitable material, such belting necessarily projecting along its outside face and inclined to the roadway 7.

In front of the life-saver 6 is' a feeler 13, which consists of a light frame upon which netting is stretched. It is pivoted at 14, and if it should come incontact with an obstruction when the car is moving forward it will assume the position shown approximately by the dotted lines in Fig. 3 and in doing so will set in operation the gear for releasing the catch 8, and thus permit the life-saver to fall onto the roadway.

The supporting and releasing gear consists of a supporting lever-catch 8, held in its normal position by a sliding bolt 15, whichis operated by means of the weighted lever 16, the rod 17, and the feeler 13.

The feeler and the supporting and releasing lever-catch and their appurtenances are usually supported from the bottom of the car-platform 18, and all the parts are preferably underneath it.

19 is a buffer for arresting the motion of the life-saver 6, and 20 is a handle for lifting and resetting such life'saver.

21 is an elongated hole, its purpose being to allow the feeler to swing in a forward directiou should a person who is in the act of lfJeing pushed aside come against its inner ace.

The life-saver operates in the following manner: When it is in the position shown by the full lines in the drawings, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, it is clear of the roadway, and it cannot come into action unless the bolt 15 is withdrawn by means of the feeler. When the feeler 13, therefore, comes against an object, it is pushed back or past the position shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 3, and with it the rod 17, and it in turning operates the weighted lever 16 and the bolt 15, thus disengaging such bolt and the weighted lever-catch 8, permitting it to assume the position shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2 and allowing the rod 9 to slide down, and with it the life-saver 6. When the belt 12 touches the roadway, the friction of the street, the weight of the body, and the inclination of the life-saver cause it to turn about its pivot 11 until the bufier 19 comes against the weather-board 10. During the time it is thus turning the body which actuated the feeler lies against the life-saver and is carried easily and quickly to the side of the vehicle, and by the time such life-saver is in the position shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1 the body is quite clear of the track and uninjured. The lever 8 moves in a guide 22, and it is provided with a bearing-piece 23, so that when the bolt 15 is withdrawn and the lever 8 at that end raised by the weight of the life-saver the nose of such bolt 15 will bear against its sidethat is to say, against the bearing-piece 23. Whenever the weight of the life-saves comes off the lever 8, the weight 24 causes it to again fall, and when the hole 25 comes opposite the bolt, which is always in its guide 26, the weighted lever 16 will cause such bolt 15 to rengage' with the lever-catch 8, and it will therefore again be ready to receive the rod 9 of the life-saver, which can be lifted and turned by the handle 20 into its normal position.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In life-savers for tram-cars and the like, the combination of a more or less inclined life-saver 6, extending in its normal position across the track, with a pivot 11, and a rod 9, the purpose of the life-saver 6, being, in its angular movement backward and toward the side and about the pivot, to remove an obstruction from the roadway, or in front of a vehicle and deposit it at the side of the track, as described.

2. In life-savers for tram-cars and the like, the combination of a more or less inclined life-saver 6, extending in its normal position across the track, with a pivot 11, about which such life-saver mayswing, a rod 9, for carrying the life-saver, and a feeler 13, by which the mechanism for supporting and releasing such life-saver is set in operation, whereby an obstruction automatically operates the mechanism and in its operation removes the obstruction from the roadway and deposits it at the side of the track, as described.

3. In life-savers for tram-cars and the like, the combination of a feeler 13, actuated by an obstruction in front of the car with a weighted lever-catch 8, for supporting the life-saver rod 9, a bolt 15, actuated by the feeler 13, a weighted lever 16, which commu nicates the motion of the feeler to the bolt 15, by means of the rod 17, as described.

4. In life-savers for tram-cars and the like, the combination ofa life-saver 6, with a feeler 13, the mechanism for supporting and releasing such life-saver and the butter 19, as described and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID MAXWELL.

Witnesses:

GEORGE CAMERON DOUGLAS, AGNES CULLARD DOUGLAS. 

